the wrath of many home state voters. >> i consider senator specter a traitor, quite honestly. >> the senator tried to explain, taking crowds back to his childhood. >> i became a jfk democrat. >> it sounded as if he wanted us to believe he had never really been a republican. >> i probably voted more often on the big issues with the democrats than with the republicans. >> do you regret ever having become a republican? >> i did my best for a long time to moderate the republican party. and the great day when they refused to talk about the stimulus which was necessary to avoid a depression. >> he, nonetheless, had president obama and the democratic establishment, but it wasn't enough. specter lost the 2010 primary to then-congressman joe sestak, effectively ending his political career. he will be remembered as a tough interrogator of supreme court nominees, as judicial political chairman, a supporter of cancer research and a staunch supporter of women's rights, especially a woman's right to choose to an abortion. >> many who knew him well and actually covered him on capitol hill, cnn repo